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2 Sheets-.-Sheet 1'..

QNo Modem I. BIRGE.

STORE SERVICE APPARATUS.

No. 325,384. Patented Sept. 1, 1885.

INVENTOR WITNESSES:

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. STORE SERVICE APPARATUS. No. 325,384. Patented Sept. 1, 1885.

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UNITED STATES IsInonn BIRGE, or PHILADELPHIA,

PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE TRANSIT APPARATUS COMPANY, (LIMITED,) OF SAME PLACE.

' STORE-SERVICE APPARATUS.

SFECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 325,384, dated September 1, 1885.

Application died April 23, 1885. (No model.)

To ((11% whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Isrnonn Briton, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvement in Store-Service Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates in general to the class of store-service apparatus in which the traveling carrier is a basket or other goods-receiver suspended from the depending arm or hanger of a one or two wheeled truck, the wheel or wheels of which travel upon an elevated track composed of a single rail.

My invention relates specifically' to the carrier receivers or devices for receiving the car- "iers at the end of a given line of track and for permitting of the descent or bringing down fsaid carriers, one by one, from the level of he track to a lower level and within the reach if an attendant, and it comprehends improve leIl tS not only upon the receivers themselves, out also upon certain devices for stopping or arresting the carriers at the end of a given track and before their travel upon the receiver.

In Letters Patent of the United States No. 291,280, granted January 1, 1884, upon my application, there is shown and described a carrier-receiving apparatus of substantially the character herein set forth and improved upon; and in Letters Patent of .the United States, No. 300,198, granted June 10, 1884, upon my application, there is likewise shown and described a stop apparatus for, under certain conditions of disposition of parts, arresting the movement of acarrier onto a receiver of substantial ly the character herein employed and improved upon.

My present invention comprehends means 49 for ocoasioning the conjoint operation of the carrier-receiving apparatus and the carrierarresting device, so that they automatically cooperate in the receiving and discharge of a given carrier and in the arrest of a succeeding carrier until the time comes for its dis charge; and it further comprehends specific improvements both in the construction and arrangement of the receiver and in the application and control of its operating-cord.

50 Apparatus conveniently embodying a good form of my improvements is represented in the accompanying drawings and described in this specification, the particular subject-hiatter claimed as novel being hereinafter definitely specified.

In the accompanying drawings, Figurel is a side elevational side of a carrier-receiver conveniently embodying my improvements, the parts being in the position which they occupy when the receiver has been elevated and has received a carrier, and when the rear arm of the arrester has been deflected to arrest upon the track a succeeding carrier, that side of the hood which is nearest the eye being, for clearness of representation, omitted. Fig. 2 is a view similar to that of Fig. 1 of the same de vice, in the position, however, which the parts assume when the receiver has been dropped, and when the carrier, which it is represented in Fig. 1 as containing, is being brought down upon the liftingcord. In this view the carrier shown in Fig. 1 as being arrested by the rear arm of the arrester is shown as arrested by the front arm of said arrester. Fig. 3 is a view in perspective of the carrier-receiver in its elevated position, sight being taken from the opposite side from that represented in Figs. 1 and 2; and Fig. 4 is a view in perspective of the hood shown detached.

Similar letters of reference indicate corre- 8o sponding parts.

In the drawings, A represents the terminal portion of a track or carrying rail, which, in the mounting of the apparatus represented, is sustained by a depending forked suspender, 8 B. Parallel with the track and likewise supported by the suspender B, is a guard-rail, A between which and the track the hanger of the carrier depends and travels.

C C representatype of one-wheeled travel- 0 ing carriers, several of which are represented, with which the apparatus depicted is proportioned to operate.

1) is a standard secured to the track (or other fixture) at a suitable distance from the extremity thereof, to which is pivoted what I term the carrier-arrester E, which is, in effect, a lever of substantially the character of the pivoted stop-bar described in my Letters Patent No. 300,198, and the two arms of which,

which I respectively designate as the front arm, e,'and the back arm, 6*, are of such conformation as to present on each side of their common fulcrum one or more segmental or are shaped faces or seats, so to speak, which preferably correspond in curvature with the curvature of the periphery of a carrier-wheel, and against which the exterior rim of said wheel is adapted, when the arrester is in given positions, to abut.

The carrier-receiver is essentially composed of what I term a track or floor bar, a guard or cover bar, and cross-bars, or other devices for connecting the said track and cover Lars together.

F is what I term the track-bar, which is conveniently pivoted to the extremity of the track, constitutes, when in its elevated position, a continuous connection of said track, and is, in effect, the floor of the receiver. Abreast and parallel with but a certain distance from the track'bar is a guard-bar, F which is pivoted to the extremity of the guardrail, and which serves as a guard for the carrier-hanger as the carrier runs on the trackbar of the receiver. The pivoted track-bar F carries or is provided with a cover-bar, G, being a parallel bar, preferably of greater length than the track-bar F, and connected therewith, as well as with the guardbar F, by cross-bars, or any preferred connecting device-such, for instance, as the twin bulging spiders H H. The length which the coverbar is represented as having in excess of the length of the pivoted track-bar forms what I term a bellmuzzle, g, the same being a fiaring throat, the office of which, when the receiver is elevated, is to guide the carrier onto the track-bar, and when the receiver as an entirety has assumed its depending or vertical position, to insure the deposit, in said depending receiver, of the wheel of a carrier which niay have escaped the arrcster as the latter,

together with the receiver, was in the act of when in a vertical position said receiver is in effect a suspended pocket or cage, from which a carrier cannot escape except at the will of the operator, as hereinafter explained.

I is a link or rod for connecting the carrierarrester and the carrier-receiver so that they operate together. The connection is conveniently effected by providing the outer extremity of the cover-bar G of the carrier-receiver with a link-bar, g provided with an eye, 9, through which the outer extremity of the link I, which is pivotally connected with the front arm of the arrester, passes. It is obvious that the lift of the carrier-receiver from the position which it is represented as occupying in Fig. 2 to that which it is represented as occupying in Figs. 1 and 3,will occasion such a corresponding movement of the carrier-arrester as will cause it to assume the position represented in Fig. 1, and that the drop of. the receiver will occasion an opposite movement of the arrester. The lower or outer extremity of the track-bar F is provided with a pivoted detent, f, which at a point beyond its fulcrum, and conveniently at a heel, is connected with the liftingeord J, which passes up and over a pulley near the ceiling, and through a pull upon which the carrier-receiver is moved from the position represented in Fig. 2 to that represented in Fig. 1. WVhen tension is ex erted upon the cord so as to raise the receiver, the pivoted detent f is deflected so as to seat itself in a notch,f formed to receive it in the carrying-face of the track-bar F, in which position the detent becomes a continuous connection of the track. In the depending position of the receiver the detent fallsout of its notch and blocks the discharge-opening of the receiver, as shown in Fig. 2. Y

K is a housing upon the covcr'bar of the receiver, which contains tWo pulleys, k k, be tween which the lifting-cord J passes and which tend to ease its movement with respect to the outer end of the cover bar G. with respect to which the cord of course must have a fixed passage.

L is a hood, applied conveniently by being connected to the forked suspender B, and conveniently formed of two webs of wire-work. It extends beyond the extremity of the track and so as to form an incasing contrivanoe, so to speak, for the receiver. The particular object of the hood, however, is to prevent possible tangling of the cord with parts of the receiver when sudden and jerky traction is exerted upon it.

In the foregoing description of construction of apparatus it is believed that the operation has been sufficiently indicated. It is, however, proper to add that thenorrnal position of the parts is that represented in Fig. 2, in which case the receiver is vertical and depending and the front arm of the arrester deflected so as to block the track, in which position a carrier traveling down the track to its terminus encounters the front arm of said arrester and. is brought to a standstill. XVhen, then, it is desired to bring down the arrested carrier, traction is exerted upon the cord of the receiver and the latter is elevated from its vertical to its horizontal position, or that represented in Figs. 1 and 3. In the said act of elevating the receiver the front arm of the arrester is also elevated and the rear arm depressed, so that as soon as the receiver is horizontal the arrested carrier escapes from the arrester and gravitates upon the track-bar of the receiver over the pivoted detent, which in the then elevated position of parts is a continuous connection of the said track-bar, and out to and against the heel of the detent and the cord.

IOC

IIO

In the above action of lifting the receiver as the front arm of the arrester lifts to permit the onward travel of the arrested carrier, the rear arm, as stated, drops so as to constitute a guard against the passage of a succeeding carrier, should one at the time arrive attheterminal. When the carrier first considered is within the receiver,the cord is slackened, the receiver drops, and the carrier descends upon the bight formed in the cord, after the manner set forth in my Patent X0. 291,280, hereinbefore re ferred to. As the carrier drops upon the cord, the detent, as the cord under the weight of the carrier becomes taut, is lifted from out its notch and blocks the dischargingthroat, so to speak, of said receiver, so that in the event of the accidental passage of two carriers past the arrester into the receiver at the same time, the second carrier, even in the vertical position of the receiver, is arrested and prevented from descending with the first carrier upon the cord. The act of slackening the cord and permitting the drop of the receiver occasions the retilting of the arrester, so that its rear arm lifts as its front arm drops, and thereby permits the escape from the rear arm of any carrier which may happen to have been arrested by said rear arm at the time when it was down, and the limited advance of said carrier against the depressed front arm. If desired, the housing which carries the cord-pulleys may be pivoted so as to prevent any possibility of the cord binding between the pulleys.

Such being a description of a good construction of my device, it is obvious that the essential features of the invention are, the positive connection of the receiver with the arrester, so that the said devices co-operate or mutually contribute to the regulated receiving and discharge of the carriers one by one at the terminus; the construction of the receiver itself as a closed cage; the provision of the detent or additional arrester, so to speak, within the receiver, to prevent the accidental dropping of a carrier; the application of the hood to prevent the entanglement of the cord, and the provision of the pulleys or a kindred autifrietion contrivauce for easing the play, while safely retaining the position, of the cord with respect to the receiver.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. In a store-service apparatus, in combination with a track which is suitably suspended or supported, an arresting device adjacent to the terminal extremity of the track, a receiving device applied to the extremity of the track and adapted to have movement with respect thereto, and a connecting device between said receiving and said arresting device which occasions their conjoint operation, as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In a store'service apparatus, the following elements in combination: a track, an arresting device adjacent to the extremity of said track, a receiving device applied to the extremity of said track, a connecting device for connecting the arresting device with the re eeiving device, and a cord for operating said receiving device, substantially as set forth.

3. In a store-service apparatus, in combi nation with a track suitably supported or suspended, a carrierreceiver applied to the terminal extremity of said track, a pivoted detent or kindred arresting device applied to said carrier-receiver, and a cord connected with said deteut for operating said receiver, substantially as set forth.

4. In a storescrvice apparatus, in combination with a track suitably supported or suspended, acarrier-receiver applied to the terininal extremity of said track, a cord connected with said receiver, and pulleys applied to said receiver for easing the play of the cord, substantially as set forth.

5. In astore-service apparatus, the combination of a track, a pivoted carrier-receiver applied to the terminal extremity of the track, a cord for operating said pivoted receiver, and a hood for preventing entanglement of the cord, substantially as set forth.

6. Ina store-service apparatus, in eombination with a' track suitably suspended or supported, a pivoted carrier-arrester having an arresting-arm upon each side of its pivot, a pivoted cage-like carrienreceiver composed, essentially, of atrack-bar and a cover suitably connected, bars, a link or red connecting the pivoted arrester with the pivoted receiver, and a cord for elevating the receiver, substantially as set forth.

7. In a store-service apparatus, in combination with a track suitablysuspended or supported, a pivoted carrier arrester, a pivoted carrier-receiver, a link or red connecting the pivoted arrester with the pivoted receiver, a pivoted deteut applied to said receiver, and a cord connected with said deteut and adapted to control the throat or carrier-escape opening of said receiver, as and for the purposes set forth.

8. In a store-service apparatus, the combination of a track, a carrier-receiver applied to said track, being essentially a closed guard or cage for a carrier, and provided with a trackbar which, when the receiver is elevated, is a continuous connection of the track, a pivoted deteut applied to the track-bar of the receiver which, when the receiver is elevated, forms a continuous connection of the track-bar, and a cord for conjointly operating both the detent and the carrier-receiver, substantially as described.

9. As an article of manufacture, a carrier receiver for a store-service apparatus of the class herein recited, provided with a trackbar, being a continuation of the main track, and a pivoted deteut being a continuation of the track-bar, substantially as described.

10. In combination with thepivoted carrierreceiver provided with the liftingcord, pulleys for fixing one point of hearing or connection and for easing the movement of the cord throat, as and for the purposes set forth.

cage adapted to be pivoted to the terminal extremity of the track, and provided as to its lower. opening or floor region with a track-bar 15 or a continuation of the track, substantially as set forth.

In testimonywhereof T havehereunto signed my name this 28 day of March, A. D. 1885.

IS/IDORE BIRGE.

In presence of- J. BONSALL TAYLOR, WM. 0. STRAWBRIDGE.

13. As an article of manufacture, a carrier receiver for a store-service apparatus of the class herein recited, consisting of an inclosed Correction in Letters Patent No. 325,384

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 325,384, granted September 1, 1885, upon the application of Isidore Birg, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for an improvement in Store-Service Apparatus, an error appears in the printed specification requiring the following correction: In line 57, page 1, the Word side after elevational should be stricken out and the Word view inserted instead; and that the said Letters Patent 2 should of the ease in the Patent Office.

be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record Signed, countersigned, end sealed this 15th day of September, A. D1885.

G. A. JENKS,

[sEAL] Acting Secretary of the Interior.

Gountersigned:

M. V. MoNTGoMEnY,

i Commissioner of Patents. 3 l 1 

